The Jewish Allendistas

Chapter 1 is about the Jewish Allendistas—that is, Jews who supported President Salvador Allende—and comprises three sections. The first section addresses Jewish-Chilean leftists from the onset of the Cold War in Chile in 1947 through Allende’s electoral triumph on September 4, 1970. At the beginning of that period, most Jewish-Chilean leftists were male Communists of Eastern European descent who, as a result of their education, social capital, and political activism, managed to attain relatively prominent positions within the Chilean Left. By 1970, two younger generations of Jewish-Chilean leftists—more educated and diverse than their older peers—had entered the scene. The second section examines the Jewish supporters of Allende from his election in September 1970 until the coup that overthrew him on September 11, 1973. For the first time in Chilean—and Latin American—history, such a considerable number of Jews—over 200—participated in a national administration, with varying degrees of responsibility. The third and final section of this chapter explores the diversity of the Jewish Allendistas from four perspectives (political identity, ethnic origins, age, and gender) and explains why so many Jewish Chileans supported Allende.